This text examines feminist mothering theory and psychoanalytic theories of narcissism. The author describes his effort to share in the care of his daughter during her first four years. The connections between and the problems in his child-rearing practice and the development of his child-rearing theory are explored.

Each contributor to this book has used personal experience as the basis from which to frame his individual sociological perspectives. Because they have personalized their work, their accounts are real, and recognizable as having come from 'real' persons, about 'real' experiences. There are no objectively-distanced disembodied third person entities in these accounts. These writers are actual people whose stories will make you laugh, cry, think, and want to know more.